GRETA BERLIN has been an advocate for justice for the Palestinians since the early 60s. She is the mother of two Palestinian/American children whose father was born and raised in Safad, Palestine and is a 1948 refugee. She has a masters degree in Theatre and a bachelor’s in English and, when she’s not working with the Palestinians, has spent the past 32 years teaching engineers and scientists how to design and deliver presentations.

She has been in the West Bank three times (over five months total) since 2003 with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led movement that applies nonviolent principles to resist the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. Greta, along with 10 other ISM volunteers, was wounded by Israeli gunfire in July 2003 while trying to pull down the gate in the fence at Anin, just outside of Jenin. She has spent most of the time in the occupied territories as media coordinator in the ISM offices in Beit Sahour and Ramallah. She is one of the founders of the Free Gaza Movement, which seeks to break the siege of Gaza through seaborne nonviolent action and was onboard the Free Gaza, the first boat with internationals to reach this besieged strip of the Mediterranean in 41 years. You can read some of her articles and interviews by GOOGLING Greta Berlin, Palestine.

She has spoken around the world at universities, and organizations about what she has witnessed in Palestine and how to advocate for an occupied people.

From the FreeGaza.org website:

The historic illegal appropriation of Palestinian land, home and heritage is at the heart of the Middle East conflict. It has given rise to the largest ongoing refugee population in the world. It paved the way for subsequent land theft in 1967, and the ongoing ethnic cleansing that has squeezed Palestinians in the West Bank into ghettos and bantustans surrounded by 27-foot walls, sniper towers, and military guards. It has created the open-air prison of Gaza with an impoverished and overcrowded population of 1.4 million inhabitants.

This tragic event has dispossessed and disinherited Palestinians all over the world; and a destitute population of refugees with only their memories of Palestine, crumbling property deeds, and an undaunted will to return.

Mission Statement

We want to break the siege of Gaza. We want to raise international awareness about the prison-like closure of the Gaza Strip and pressure the international community to review its sanctions policy and end its support for continued Israeli occupation. We want to uphold Palestine’s right to welcome internationals as visitors, human rights observers, humanitarian aid workers, journalists, or otherwise.

Who are we?

We are these human rights observers, aid workers, and journalists. We have years of experience volunteering in Gaza and the West Bank at the invitation of Palestinians. But now, because of the increasing stranglehold of Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, many of us find it almost impossible to enter Gaza, and an increasing number have been refused entry to Israel and the West Bank as well. Despite the great need for our work, the Israeli Government will not allow us in to do it.

We are of all ages and backgrounds. Back home, we are teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, truck drivers, youth workers, musicians, secretaries, parents, grandparents, lawyers, students, activists, actors, playwrights, politicians, web designers, authors, international training consultants, and we even include a former Hollywood film industry worker, a former Marine, an aviator, and an explorer. We are Italian, Irish, Canadian, Greek, Tunisian, German, Australian, American, English, Scottish, Danish, Israeli, and Palestinian.

What are we doing?

On August 23, 2008, we broke the siege of Gaza by sea for the first time and on October 29 for the second time. We want to repeat the action and establish a permanent sea lane between Cyprus and Gaza.

Points of Unity

All participants in the Free Gaza Movement accept the following principles and practices:

1. We respect the human rights of everyone, regardless of race, tribe, religion, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship or language.

2. The lawful inhabitants of all territories occupied by Israel since June 5, 1967 must have unimpeded access to international waters and air space, in conformity with all UN resolutions and international law.

3. The lawful inhabitants of all territories occupied by Israel since June 5, 1967 have the right to control all entry and exit to and from those territories without Israeli interference.

4. Israel must withdraw its military presence from all territories occupied since June 5, 1967 and revoke all legislation, regulations, directives and practices that apply differently to different populations living in those territories.

5. Israel must demolish all barriers built to restrict passage in all territories occupied by Israel since June 5, 1967.

6. We recognize the right of all Palestinian refugees and exiles and their heirs to return to their homes in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories; to recover their properties, and to receive compensation for damage, dispossession and unlawful use of such property. This is an individual and not a collective right, and cannot be negotiated except by the individual.

7. We agree to adhere to the principles of nonviolence and nonviolent resistance in word and deed at all times.

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY

A former six-term Member of Congress from Georgia, Cynthia McKinney proved herself a courageous voice for the voiceless, unafraid to speak truth to power. Cynthia’s Power to the People Committee is working to put Cynthia on fifty-one ballot lines!

Cynthia was never afraid to introduce legislation that showed her moral compass and where she felt our country ought to be. In that regard, after the tragedy of September 11th, 2001, Cynthia introduced legislation that would allow the survivors of the tragedy’s victims to sue those responsible for the attacks as well as participate in the Victims Compensation Fund. She introduced legislation to establish a national living wage and she also introduced legislation to repeal the Military Tribunals Act. Her signature environmental piece of legislation was the National Forest Protection and Restoration Act which would have provided much-needed jobs and revenues for the restoration and protection of America’s national forests. McKinney successfully authorized the USDA disparity study that demonstrated USDA discrimination against minority farmers. McKinney, like so many Americans, has long held Green values. McKinney is now proudly a Green.

While in Congress, Cynthia:

* Consistently opposed funding for bloated military and secret intelligence budgets;

* Introduced Articles of Impeachment for George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Condoleezza Rice;

* Introduced, championed, and passed in the U.S. House the Arms Trade Code of Conduct, prohibiting the sale of arms to known human rights abusers;

* Authored legislation to end the use of depleted uranium weapons;

* Passed legislation to extend health benefits for Vietnam War veterans still suffering the health effects from exposure to the defoliant Agent Orange;

* Challenged Pentagon Secretary Rumsfeld and Chairman Myers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the $2.3 trillion missing Pentagon money and on U.S.-sponsored war games taking place on September 11, 2001;

* Currently serves on (a) International Tribunal on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, (b) Brussels Tribunal on Iraq, (c) is participating in War Crimes prosecutions in Spain, and (d) is working with the Malaysian Peace Organization to criminalize war;

* Introduced legislation to eliminate federal subsidies for corporations taking jobs overseas.

MICHAEL HEART

Michael Heart’s background is as diverse as can be. Born in Syria and raised in Europe (Switzerland and Austria), the Middle East and the United States, he has lived a multi-cultural life and absorbed the music of different parts of the world (although his current CD release is purely categorized as Pop/Rock). He started out on piano and guitar at age 10. Shortly thereafter, he began dabbling in songwriting and eventually made the natural progression towards recording. After earning his audio engineering degree from Full Sail (recording school), he moved to Los Angeles in 1990 and spent the past 18 years working on the local studio circuit both as a session guitarist and a recording engineer. In that time, he has worked with such artists as Brandy, Will Smith, Toto, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, Phil Collins, Patty LaBelle, The Pointer Sisters, Earth Wind & Fire, Ricky Lee Jones, Lou Rawls, Jesse McCartney, Hillary Duff, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Paige, Al Jarreau, K-Ci & Jojo, Deborah Cox, Monica, Taylor Dayne, Keiko Matsui, Steve Nieves, Luis Miguel and Tarkan. Michael’s fluency in French was definitely an added bonus when he also worked in the studio with French artists like Calogero (The Charts), Marc Lavoine and Veronique Sanson. Other projects also included work with producers Rodney Jerkins, Philippe Saisse and David Foster. (note: on most of these recording credits, Michael is credited as “Annas Allaf”, his real name, Michael Heart being the stage name). Although most of Michael’s work has been in the recording studio, he also done some touring (notably back in the early 90’s, when he toured as a Flamenco guitarist in a guitar trio with Juan Manuel Canizares, opening for Dire Straits). He has also recorded and toured with the smooth jazz band Jango.

These days, when he is not promoting his new CD or writing new material, Michael is lending his production skills to various local artists, primarily working in his home studio.

In January of 2009, Michael also wrote and composed a song about the horrific situation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The song is called “We will not go down”.

After ten years of service, Congresswoman McKinney lost her seat (many believe because of her criticism of the Bush Administration’s lack of accountability for what happened on 9-11) in 2002 thanks to a concerted effort by Republicans to organize voters to “cross over” and vote against her in the Democratic Primaries.

Her experience as the target of such an orchestrated campaign has been documented in a film titled “American Blackout,” directed by Ian Inaba. This film, which won an award at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival in Utah, features McKinney’s career as a Congresswoman and deals with the historical suppression of black voters in the United States. McKinney made a stunning comeback in 2004, a year in which Republicans took firm control of both Chambers of Congress and the White House, when she was elected once again to represent Georgia’s Fourth District.

Upon returning to Congress, McKinney brought ten years of experience with her, but was denied her seniority status and her seat on the International Relations Committee. This did not keep her from taking on challenging and controversial issues. On the first anniversary of the release of the 9/11 Commission Report, McKinney presided at a Congressional Briefing where dozens of experts and family members of 9/11 victims gave nine hours of testimony critiquing the Report’s errors, omissions, and recommendations. Further testimony on 9/11 was heard at the Congressional Black Caucus’ annual legislative weekend in September 2005.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, McKinney drove all night to be with the people of New Orleans to speak out against the inadequate government response. A long-time environmental advocate, McKinney introduced a bill to be a comprehensive environmental clean-up plan to deal with the toxic aftermath of the hurricane. Another bill introduced by McKinney would deny funding to the Gretna Police for one year for turning away desperate survivors in the aftermath of the hurricane. McKinney has cosponsored numerous bills seeking relief for the hurricane survivors, and has consistently spoken out on behalf of the survivors, demanding that their urgent needs be addressed. She participated in the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, traveling with the Committee on a delegation to the Gulf Coast in January 2006. McKinney’s 70-page supplemental report was the only report by a Democrat to be included in A Failure of Initiative, the Select Committee’s Final Report.

At the end of the 2006 legislative session, McKinney introduced articles of impeachment against President Bush as (H Res 1106), which makes three charges against Bush: manipulating intelligence and lying to justify the war in Iraq, failing to uphold accountability and violating privacy laws with his domestic spying program. The second article also makes charges against Vice President Cheney for helping to “fix” the intelligence in order to justify the Iraq War, and against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for making false statements concerning Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction program.

McKinney was mentioned among Green Party circles as a potential candidate in 2008. Green Party members attempted to recruit McKinney both in 2000 and 2004. In 2000, she was widely mentioned as a possible running mate (in the VP slot) for Ralph Nader; in 2004, attempts were made to convince McKinney to run on the Green Party ballot line for president. While there had been a great deal of excitement amongst party members concerning a possible McKinney run in those prior elections, the congresswoman had little to do with the party outside of Green Party loyalists working on her Democratic congressional campaigns. This changed drastically following her defeat in the 2006 election. McKinney attended the California Green Party strategy retreat in Sonoma, California, where she was the keynote speaker. On May 25, 2007, she was asked about a presidential run on WBAI and confirmed that she had thought about a Green run: “2008 has not been ruled out, some kind of effort. Certainly now it is questionable as to whether that effort would come under the banner of the Democratic Party.” Then on June 9, speaking at a Harlem fund raiser to retire her Congressional campaign event, she on three occasions addressed speculation that she might run for president in 2008. At the end of the program, Robert Knight of Pacifica Radio, who MC’d the evening’s events, took the pulpit to ask: “I can’t hardly wait for 2008. Ms. McKinney, in 2008, what color is your parachute?” McKinney responds from the audience, “it’s not red and it’s not blue.”